


Dig Down

by Multifandom_damnation



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Best Friends, Episode s03e15 Eddie Begins, Gen, Injury Recovery, TV News, Team Bonding, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:34:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24127489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Multifandom_damnation/pseuds/Multifandom_damnation
Summary: Eddie doesn't think any more of the incident, until he sees the news, and realizes the extent Buck would do to bring him home safe
Relationships: Evan “Buck” Buckley & Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 133





	Dig Down

**Author's Note:**

> Ugh, I'm not happy with this one either, but I like the bit with Chris the most. I hope you do too, it made me grin while writing it xx

It’s been a few days after the incident, and Eddie had been given long enough time to recover from being buried under wet earth for much too long and had spent a vast majority of the time on the couch in the comforting circle of Chris’s arms. 

He’d had his final check-up at the hospital, and a week since the incident, Eddie had been given a clean bill of health and was given permission to return to work. The 118 was coming over for a ‘welcome back’ celebration, though there wasn’t really any question of whether or not Eddie would be able to return, and it was more of an excuse to take a night off and drink and eat cake.

Buck arrived first, much earlier than the others but that was to be expected. They spent so much time together that they pretty much lived in each other’s homes. But when Eddie opened the door, he was greeted by a wide grin, and immediately had the breath knocked out of him as Buck enthusiastically pulled him into a bone-crushing embrace. He held gifts in both hands, though from Buck it was never expected. An expensive-looking bottle of wine for Eddie, and some colouring equipment and a brand-new teddy-bear wearing a fireman’s hat. “I’ve been meaning to bring him some new stuff for a while,” he explained with a shrug when Eddie asked why he had gone through the trouble. “I know he’s been using his crayons down to the nubs, and I thought it was about time that you reached that milestone every father should and struggle with paints,” the grin on Buck’s face was cheeky. “And I found the bear the other day, actually. I was going to bring it by the hospital, but I wanted to give it to him myself. Thought it might remind him of his dad when he’s away on the job.”

Unsurprisingly, Eddie was unbelievably grateful, and he took the bottle of wine from Buck so he could read the label as Chris appeared from the other room. Buck handed him the gifts in the little bag, and once Chris pulled out the soft brown bear with the fireman’s hat and coat, he looked at it, ran his hands down the fur, and nodded with a determined, satisfied look on his face. “I’ll name him Buck,” he said definitely before turning away to place his new favourite toy in its special place on his bed.

The look of surprise on Buck’s face was almost comical, but Eddie resisted the urge to laugh and elbowed him in the side instead. “This is expensive stuff, man. You know I don’t expect you to bring anything.”

“I know,” Buck shrugged. “But you nearly died- I thought we’d celebrate in style. And also, the last time I didn’t bring anything, my sister told me off and made me go to the store to get cookies and they weren’t even that good. This time I just decided to skip that step because we both know that Chim is going to tattle on me the moment he gets home.”

Eddie laughed and put the wine on the kitchen counter. “Well, thanks. Could you go after Chris and make sure he hasn’t opened up those paints? I don’t have the energy to clean up after that stuff tonight. The other stuff you brought is fine, just nothing permanent.”

“Will do,” Buck gave a fake salute before he bounced away down the hallway, a spring in his step.

The next knock on his door was Bobby, holding a bottle case of beer, and Eddie let him in. Then Hen and Chim arrived together, holding a tray with a basic looking cake on it, but it was iced in plain white icing with writing in unfamiliar, wonky handwriting that read ‘Congrats on not dying’ in blue. “We would have gotten something more exuberant, but it was a little last minute.” Hen apologized.

“Who made this?” Eddie asked as he took the tray from them.

“Maddie,” Chim said proudly. “Spent all day on it, too.”

There was a hand on his shoulder, and Eddie looked up to see Buck, peering over him with a frown. “I wouldn’t eat it, then. Maddie’s cooking isn’t exactly known to be… editable.”

Chim pointed a finger at him. “Don’t make me tell her you said that.”

“Don’t worry, she already knows,” Buck laughed. “I’ve told her before. We order in when we have dinner together. I refuse to let her give me food poisoning again.”

“It’s very sweet,” Eddie interrupted as he made his way into the house to put the cake in the fridge, weary now about eating it. “Tell her I said thank you.”

They all piled on the couch, eating snacks and watching TV when Chris asked to switch to the news. He said that his school was in a feature, not his class, but some kids he knew would be on TV at 7, and he wanted to see what they were talking about. Except, when they switched the channel to the news at 7, it didn’t show Chris’s school and classmates talking to a reporter or doing activities in the background, but a familiar scene from above, drenched in darkness and wet earth, in the middle of the drill toppling over and collapsing on the ground.

_ “As you can see, this daring rescue from the LAFD a week ago resulted in some casualties, including this occasion, where a bolt of lightning struck the drill they were using to complete the rescue and forcing the operation to halt, a firefighter trapped underground.” _

There was a stagnant pause as the camera circled the area, capturing everything in a grainy yet visible video, and then the perspective changed to a man holding a camera on his shoulder, being held back by officers and police tape, zooming in as Buck crawled on his hands and knees and dug at the ground with his bare hands, throwing wet mud behind him, crying, screaming himself hoarse. It took Eddie a moment to realize that Buck was screaming for _him_ , screaming his name, and he felt himself freeze. Beside him, Buck tensed up and fell silent. Eddie watched as Bobby came into view of the camera, and dragged a desperate Buck away from where Eddie had been buried, and laid him over his lap like a distraught child, holding him tightly, and Eddie couldn’t tell if it was to comfort him or to keep him from hurting himself any more than he was.

_ “In this shot, you can see a desperate firefighter digging at the ground with his bare hands, trying in an act of foolish panic to reach his partner, who’s fate at this point is unknown. It’s a difficult thing to watch for anyone, even more so when you realize that this firefighter is calling his partners name as if hoping he could be heard deep underground. Thankfully, both the firefighter and the boy they were called to rescue escaped this ordeal mostly unharmed, but this just goes to show the bond that these first-responders shares and how far they will go to take care of their own. This has been Chelsey-” _

Hen muted the TV before the reported had even finished speaking. Bobby reached out to ruffle Chris’s hair. “Bud, are you sure that report was on at 7?”

“It might have been 7:30,” Chris replied, and while Bobby chuckled at his response, Chris looked like he had seen a ghost. He turned to Buck and placed his hand on his face, and Buck tore his eyes away from the screen to look at him. “Just like the tsunami. When you were looking for me.”

Buck gulped. “Uh, yeah bud. Just like the tsunami.”

Both Eddie and Buck hadn’t moved much or spoken at all since the news report, despite the awkward conversation happening behind them. Eddie just couldn’t wrap his head around what had happened, but then he turned to Buck, who was watching him with frightened eyes, like a deer in headlights. “You dug for me,” Eddie said. He could hardly believe it. “With your bare hands.”

“They weren’t really bare,” Chim interrupted. “He had gloves on.”

But Eddie ignored him. “You  _ dug  _ for me, with your  _ bare hands _ .”

Suddenly, Buck looked sheepish and placed a hand on the back of his neck. “Yeah. I guess I did,” he licked his lips. “Though I’ll be honest of you, that whole part is sort of a blur. Like, I remember calling for you and the drill falling and Bobby pulling me off the ground… but I don’t remember digging for you like that.”

Hen snorted. “ _Calling_ his name? Buck, we were right there beside you, and that noise you were making was closer to screaming than it was to calling. It was like the devil had gotten a hold of your soul and you were trying to reach god’s ears.”

Bobby looked at her. “That is a very specific and descriptive metaphor.”

“Ugh, I know,” Hen said. “Denny’s been learning about religion at school, and I’ve been trying to help him with an assignment, and I’ve had religious imagery in my head for the past three days.”

But Eddie wasn’t really listening to them. He could hear them, sure, but he wasn’t listening. He was too focused to Buck, who looked like he would much rather be anywhere else but here, and placed a grounding, comforting hand on his knee. “Hey,” he said, and suddenly it was just him and Buck, and the horrified look on Buck’s face. “Thank you. I didn’t know you did that. I wish I had seen it earlier, so I could have thanked you sooner but… it really means a lot to me. I was worried for a while that everyone thought I was dead down there and would stop looking. But I’m glad that you didn’t even consider it. It… I don’t know. You seem to make a living out of looking after my family.”

Buck didn’t say anything for a long while until he stuttered. “W-what?”

“You know,” Eddie said like it was obvious. “You took care of Chris when the tsunami hit, and we both know that you’re the only reason he lived through that. And you’ve always got my back, even when we’re not on a call or in life or death situations. You’re always there, even when you’re not. So thanks for not giving up.”

“Uh,” Buck said, blinking harshly. “You’re welcome, I guess. Though I didn’t really… do anything. You’d do the same for me.”

“Damn right,” Eddie said, and he held out his fist for Buck to bump. After a moment, Buck did.

Christopher was giggling, and he tugged on Buck’s sleeve until he turned his suspiciously wet eyes to him. “Now you’re part of the family!” He said, and Eddie felt his heart clench. “Daddy’s a hero because he fought in the war. I’m a hero because I have CP. You’re a hero because you’re the best firefighter, you save us all the time, you look after everyone,” he beamed. “And you’re my best friend!”

Buck laughed and ruffled Chris’s hair. “I don’t care about all those other things. Being your best friend is the greatest title you could ever give me.”

A grinning Chris leapt into Buck’s arms as Hen picked the remote back up. “This is all very touching and everything, but can we change the channel to something more lighthearted? This is supposed to be a celebration, and so far this has been anything but.”

Bobby laughed. “I don’t know, I’m enjoying it. And I’m just glad to be putting off having to eat Maddie’s cake if it’s as bad as Buck says it is.”

“It’s not that bad,” Chim argued. “Buck’s just being an annoying little brother. Any more insults to my girlfriends cooking and I’m going to call her to make you guys explain yourselves.”

They were bickering as old friends did, but Eddie was too busy watching Chris in Buck’s arms, comfortable and safe, as Buck ran his fingers through Chris’s curls and held him with an expert touch, and Chris traced the tattoo on Buck’s arm like it was ingrained in his memory and they both just sat there together, seeming so natural that Eddie didn’t even question it. For the first time in a long time, Eddie felt peace, knowing that Chris had someone to look after him if something were to happen to him. But also knowing that he had Buck back in his life again and that his best friend would do anything he could, anything he had to, to bring him back home to his son filled him with a feeling he couldn't quite describe.


End file.
